Xavier Cha: abduct

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Xavier Cha: abduct

This is the first scholarly catalog dedicated to emerging New York-based artist Xavier Cha. Cha works in performance, video, and multimedia installation, always with a human focus. Her past projects have featured opera singers, dancers, and athletes, and she often collaborates with actors. Looking closely at how the body communicates, she directs her subjects through focused, controlled scenarios that generate intense expressions.

This volume accompanies abduct (2015), a new video work commissioned by MOCA Cleveland that captures seven actors as they battle conflicting emotions. Extremes of rage, glee, confusion, and terror appear like foreign agents attempting hijack the actors’ faces and bodies. Inspired by sci-fi and horror films, the spare set design, minimal costumes, and dynamic camera work add to the unsettling tone of the work.

The catalog includes critical essays by Rose Bouthillier, MOCA Cleveland’s Associate Curator, and Lauren Wetmore, Associate Curator of Frieze Projects, as well as an interview with Cha by Lauren Cornell, Curator and Associate Director of Technology Initiatives at the New Museum. It includes 55 full-color plates and additional illustrations that illuminate Cha’s past work and artistic influences.

Xavier Cha: abduct identity and design concept are by Ryland Wharton, The Work We Do.